# Cease and Desist!

H. Peter Anvin (hpa@trantor.zytor.com)
Sun, 2 Jun 1996 19:17:17 PDT

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    Followup to:  <9606022001.AA17670@tom.eng.mvision.com>
    By author:    tom@mvision.com (Tom Ritchford)
    In newsgroup: local.moo
    >=20
    > Neither of these is at all effective...
    >=20
    > HOWEVER, there are many, many classes of copyright, depending on what
    > business you are in.  Often people get several but you'd not get all
    > of them.  That would mean that a Mystical Crossroads restaurant would
    > not conflict with a fabric designer of the same name.
    >=20
    > SO, I'd ask him what category of copyright he has... it's almost certai=
    nly
    > nothing that conflicts with the usage in the MOO.

    Please don't confuse trademarks with copyright (the adjective of
    which is copyrighted, by the way -- a pet peeve of mine).  They are
    *completely* different kinds of intellectual property, and obey
    completely different rules.

    What you mention above is correct for trademarks -- a trademark
    applies to a specific business category.

    > Even if you are violating the copyright, all he can get out of you
    > is damages.  He'd have to prove that you had actually cost him money!
    > Fat chance...

    Not true.  All he would have to prove is infringement, and if his
    trademark is registered, he can sue for legal costs.

    > He could also get an injunction to prevent you using the name even if
    > you had not cost him money... but then you just rename the room.
    >=20
    > He'd basically be certain to lose money if he sued you.

    No doubt.  Odds for him winning this one sounds like about
    1:10^(bullshit factor in Congress).

    > Copyright law is NOT like liability law.  I think that you could safely
    > even just ignore him!  But, by all means, find out what category he hol=
    ds
    > so you can make an informed decision.
    >=20
    > DISCLAIMER:  I learned something about this because we are in a copyrig=
    ht
    > dispute... I'm not a legal professional and I make mistakes in general!

    Same disclaimer applies.  THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE - FOR ME TO PROVIDE
    LEGAL ADVICE WOULD BE AGAINST CALIFORNIA LAW.

    	-hpa

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